Was the 1947 Partition of India inevitable?

In August of 2012, the nations of India and Pakistan celebrated their 65th year of independence from the British Raj. Although its significance was overshadowed by the Independence Day celebrations, August 2012 also marked 65 years since the tragic and violent partition of India and Pakistan. The newfound independence in 1947 was met with mixed feelings. Although the people of India, through nationalism and self-determination, had finally rid themselves from British Imperialism, they now found themselves divided into two nations. While the predominantly Hindu area remained as India, the Northwestern and Eastern, predominantly Muslim area was separated and turned into an independent …show more content…

It is a known fact that Jinnah in his early political career did not consider himself to a be a strict Muslim8. “In his personal life he ignored the claims of faith. He liked his whisky and, according to some accounts, his ham sandwiches too.” Furthermore, Jinnah later also married a non-Muslim girl, with much opposition from orthodox Muslim leaders. From this, it can be concluded that Jinnah never considered himself to be a strict Muslim believer, and in often cases committed things that would be considered a taboo in Muslim cultures. At the beginning, Jinnah was also a believer in Hindu-Muslim unity. It is questionable whether he even wanted a creation of a separate Muslim state later on, or whether it was forced by the leaders of the Congress9. When he was a member of the Congress, he was often referred to as the “Ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity”10. Like Gandhi, Jinnah too, believed that Hindus and the Muslims should unite through nationalism and fight the British. It is obvious that when his initial views are compared to his later views, a heavy contradiction can be found. The fact that Jinnah who was not a firm believer in faith, later fought to find Muslim independency through Pakistan is highly contradictory. After claiming to be disgusted from Gandhi’s use of Hindu methods in fighting the British, Jinnah left the Congress to join the Muslim League in 1913. Jinnah had feared that Gandhi’s methods would eventually